By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Savannah school district has chosen its new mascot logo.
The school board announced during its Thursday night meeting that the new "Savage" logo will be a stand-alone 'S' with claw marks through it, replacing the Native American imagery.
The board voted unanimously in favor of this change.
More than 5,000 combined votes were cast by students, faculty and community members for their favorite designs, of which there were five finalists. The other finalists included a “Hawk/Falcon," “Lion,” “Sabretooth Tiger” and “Bison.”
The winning 'S' logo received 52.5% of the total vote.
The black and gold school colors, and the nickname "Savages" will be retained. The Savannah school board voted in April of last year to retain the Savage name, but phase out the Native American imagery and symbolism associated with the mascot.
District spokesperson Jess Gillett says the final step will be replacing the equipment and uniforms that bear the original Native American mascot.
Gillett reiterated, just as the school board did at the time of their vote, not one cent of the school district's budget is going toward the mascot change. Instead, as it becomes necessary to replace items, the updated imagery will be used.
"Uniforms are on a five-year rotation," Gillett said. "So, when it's time for those uniforms to be replaced, we'll simply put the new mascot on the new uniform and move forward. And that's true of everything in the district. Gym floors, things like that. They'll just be replaced as they were already scheduled to be updated or replaced."
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